Upper Great Southern cricketers slog out solid junior country week campaign

The Upper Great Southern under-14s have returned from junior country week with some memorable wins and a wealth of experience after a gruelling five days of cricket. Two under-14 sides made the trip to Perth where the UGS under-14Bs returned the best result, landing three wins from six competitive matches featuring some great individual performances. The under-14B Black competition kicked off on January 8 with UGS taking on Esperance at Fletcher Park in a Twenty20 match. UGS sent Esperance in to bat and made short work of the openers as Matthew Grieve led the charge, taking three wickets from two overs. Curtis Hull also made his presence felt as he bowled Esperance’s Lachlan Davies (1) and Charlie Vermeesch (5) for minor scores. A good innings with the bat from Mitchell Johnstone (25) would help UGS cruise to a convincing first-round win as they finished 4-107 off 20 overs to beat Esperance by 30 runs. Esperance staged a comeback later in the day when the teams faced off again in round two. Starting with the bat UGS set a target of 88 runs off 20 overs, with Alby Stanton and Lucas Whitaker making 14 runs each. Led by Vermeersch (30), Esperance chased UGS down to finish on 5-118 off 20 overs. UGS bounced back in round three at Morris Buzzacott Reserve against Northam in the first one-day match as Matthew George claimed an impressive four scalps to help see Northam all out for 100 in the 34th over. UGS made 161 runs in response with Johnstone notching up a superb 56 with support from Matthew George (21) Stanton (21) and Grieve (24) to finish with four wickets in hand. Round four saw Busselton Margaret River better UGS by 50 runs but in the first finals round the following day, UGS once again dug deep, defeating Albany and Districts. Albany led with the bat to set a lofty target of 140 off 50 overs but UGS were able to answer with 165 off 48.4 overs as an in-form Johnstone knocked 54 off 101 balls. Finals round two saw UGS unable to match an in-form Eastern Districts after James Camac (83 not out) led Eastern Districts to set UGS a 193-run task. Despite another solid performance from Johnstone (46), UGS were unable to meet the challenge as they finished with 122 off 50 overs to finish sixth overall. The UGS under-14C side failed to land themselves a win despite significant contributions from versatile all-rounder Dylan Kellow and young boundary-seeker Darby Ball.